Star Trek Photo Manipulation Archive

For artwork, photomanipulations, and stories related to Star Trek

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Triton wrote:I thought that this video by David V Stewart was interesting. I am sharing for discussion purposes. Your mileage may vary.

This video and others have helped crystallize for me what I believe is the critical problem with The Last Jedi, and to a lesser degree, The Force Awakens. While I'm okay with Rian Johnson going against expectations, to do so to the extent he did at nearly every turn, led him to violate one of the crucial foundations of what the Star Wars films have been about.

At the root of Star Wars has been the mythology of the hero's journey. The original trilogy was constructed around the framework of the hero's journey as presented by Joseph Campbell in his book "The Hero With a Thousand Faces." Lucas did this intentionally.

The prequel trilogy still followed this basic framework, though not as clearly and obviously. But it was still there.

The Force Awakens followed it in as much as the film was a copy/reboot of A New Hope. However, I don't think this was Abrams intention, just the elements he copies were part of that framework so it is still there.

This to me is the core problem with The Last Jedi. I don't believe there was an intention to promote SJW ideas, or to destroy Star Wars. Such conspiracy theories suggest there was more intent behind what was written than I believe there was. I think Johnson simply does not understand what Star Wars is.